Author: Eli Pacheco

…And How to Hone Your Interpersonal Skills!

By Victor Moreau

The average Millennial exchanges an average of 67 text messages per day, according to Business Insider. About 97% of Americans use their texting app at least once a day, making it the most widely-used feature on a smartphone. People like to text, but is there a negative to all of that time spent typing in lieu of face-to-face or even voice-to-voice communication?

Some people think so.

One person, in particular, MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle, is a leading researcher looking into the impact of texting. Turkle believes that too much texting can have a negative impact on the interpersonal development of kids. An example she gives compares an apology given between two people face-to-face and a text apology.

In the example, she describes all of the emotion, tension, and subtleties involved in a face-to-face apology:

We could have gone with “what your first tech gift says about you,” but it’s almost Christmas already.

There comes a time in a kid’s life when the wishlist evolves from past dolls and dump trucks to games and gadgets.

It’s a refinement of interest, and taste. Rather than ask Santa for presents that speak when you spin the wheel/squeeze the paw/push the button, we request gifts of a higher order. Some are electronic; others, battery-powered.

All, though, signal our graduation from toys we’re still likely to chew on at some juncture, to those that require dexterity and thought.

I asked social media connections to share with Tech Life the first tech gift they remember unwrapping for the holidays. The answers spanned generations and complexities. Here’s what they came up with.

Awash with stories as a widow and mom to young children, one writer found a path to share them

How many people do you know who’ve won two donkeys on a TV game show?

That’s just one of Kelly McKenzie’s adventures. She writes the blog Just Typikel. Get it? Her posts brim with the adventures of a mom to two grown children, and daughter to a 91-year-old spark plug of a woman.

How to maximize your chances when it comes to reaping the blog sweepstakes rewards

By Eli Pacheco

I watch them fly by on my Twitter feed … giveaways and sweepstakes on blogs.

Some are on blogs I trust. Others, just from bloggers I follow. I’ve won before – neat glass jars from Infinity Jars on The Mom of the Year blog. I’ve won a couple of excellent books, too, and once, a fresh pair of sunglasses that would never fit in my budget.

Often, bloggers win on other blogs. Hosts can ask for anything from a simple comment to a series of likes and follows through a third-party service, such as Raffle Copter.

The right photo + the right words = viral appeal, copycats and more.

By Meaghan Flanigan

What’s the first word that comes to mind when you see a meme?

Hilarious? Insightful? Rude? Accurate? Dumb?

They’re all that – and they’re everywhere, from Twitter and Instagram to Facebook and Pinterest. How did a thing as simple as a photo and caption that makes a joke or offers an insight become some popular?

Richard Dawkins, in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, first coined the word meme. It described how ideas spread through culture. It once took days, weeks, or years for ideas to disseminate; now they hit the Internet, and spread like wildfire.

Tiffany writes the blog Sounds Like Life to Me. She’s a mom, a wife, and a writer. We asked her to tell us how technology has changed her life. Many of us will be able to identify with so much of what Tiffany says about the struggle between the benefits and pitfalls of a technologically advancing society.

Save time, save money, save sanity for vacation with a little help from technology

By Jacquelyn Staggs

Work hard, play hard.

Or so they say.

Imagine taking a relaxing vacation, lying in a swaying hammock on a sandy beach in the sun, sipping out of a coconut…..or, hiking through the dense jungle chasing waterfalls and watching monkeys swing from branch to branch…..whichever’s more your passion.